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Alert

Military leader keeps promise to let RFI resume FM broadcasts

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has welcomed the resumption of FM broadcasts by Radio France Internationale (RFI) in Nouakchott after a ban imposed in October 2000 was lifted. The authorities gave the go-ahead at the end of a visit to Nouakchott by RFI's deputy director for international relations, Jean-Marc Belchi.

Mauritania's military leader, Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, had told Reporters Without Borders during a meeting in October 2005 that he would lift the five-year-old ban, promising a return to "the situation that existed when broadcasts were suspended."

Talks are also under way with Mauritania's national radio station for the construction of a radio mast that would enable RFI to extend the area covered by its FM broadcast to include the western city of Nouadhibou. Retransmission of the broadcasts of RMC Moyen-Orient, an RFI offshoot, is also planned.